Page 34 of Mara
Your fucking sister, bitch.
Not letting my intrusive thoughts win that one, I changed the subject instead. “Dinner sounds great, babe. You, me, Trapp, and Mara.”
Gianna was quiet for a moment. “What’s a trap? And no, Jenkins, I need to speak to you alone.”
I narrowed my eyes, pissed off at my legal name being dropped. Where was this bravado coming from? Gianna was a mouse, one I could easily squish between my fingers if needed.
“Trapps, my buddy. You took the phone from him. And Mara is gonna be there because she was attacked, and you are the one who told me to keep her safe, remember?”
I could hear my own tone lose the playful edge, my true self shining through in that moment. A woman wasn’t going to talk down to me. I kept my bitches on a leash. If they tried to bite me? They’d be put down.
Gianna sighed, and I could hear the annoying sound of her clacking nails on a surface. “Tripe? You are coming to a double date. Look nice and keep my sister happy.”
I almost felt sorry for Trapp. He was stuttering, and the shuffle of papers and shit falling off the counter could be heard for miles.
“Very well. I will find time to talk with you alone at some point. Mara…is important and should be kept safe right now. I was being selfish. You’re right, baby, like always. You are such a great role model.”
I ignored Gianna and her fawning. Half the shit she was saying didn’t make sense.
“Gigi, call your sister and tell her to meet you. Don’t give away the surprise about Trapp or me coming.”
Gianna clacked those damn nails again and then sighed. “Right. Okay baby. See you soon?”
“I’m going to swing by my place to get cleaned up. Be there in an hour or so.”
With that, I hung up. No need to hear whatever mindless drivel Gianna was sure to say, and Trapp needed time to clean the skid mark out of his pants before coming to the restaurant.
I thought about the little stowaway in my basement. I had played too long with her. Her usefulness in revealing all that she could about Mara and the complete clarity of signing had run out. I had one last use for her, practicing my kill for my darling Little Reaper.
The basement smelled of shit and piss from the bucket in her cage. The interpreter was asleep on the ground. The only thing separating her from the concrete was a thin blanket.
I smacked the cage, jolting her from her spot. Grabbing the pink leash I had wrapped around Mara in the woods, I opened the door and linked the chain to her collar.
“I’m afraid our time together has reached its final stretch, pet.”
The woman cowered when I yanked the chain and brought her toward the door of my basement. “Don’t worry, you have been very useful to me. I will grant you a rare mercy by numbing the pain.”
Tears welled in her blue eyes and spilled free.
“Okay…” Her voice was broken, defeat so delightfully heavy in her tone.
I walked her into a room completely covered in plastic. It was once a spare bedroom, but now it was used for…extracurricular practices.
A gurney I bought from the black market was positioned in the center of the room, adorned with the same reflective plastic material as the rest of the room. I patted the gurney and watched her expectedly. Her naked, malnourished body shook, but she obeyed my silent demand.
“This part will hurt.” A smile broke free on my lips. “But we can get through this the easy way or the hard way? It is the only choice you’re being given.”
I half expected her to run as I walked to the back of the room, where a long needle lay on a tool tray—another goody from the black market.
This was an epidural.
I had practiced this particular procedure on numerous subjects, and I was fairly certain it would be successful. Even though I had anticipated her bolting, the euphoria that hit me the moment her feet hit the ground made my blood dance within my veins. She wasted no time running for the stairs.
“I suppose that’s the hard way then.” I walked after her clomping feet. “Good.”
She smashed into the locked door, the hardness of the metal jarring her. Unlike most morons, she didn’t waste time finding out it was locked with only a thumbprint code to exit. Instead, she ran back down to the basement.
I quirked a brow, intrigued at what she thought she’d find in the small space that only contained her cage.
